AIRBUS'S THREAT TO U.S. RIVALS

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A few years ago, the Boeing Company and the McDonnell Douglas Corporation dismissed Airbus Industrie, the European consortium, as a puny novice in the jetliner business, but no longer.

Last year, Airbus, based in this prosperous high-tech town in southern France, garnered nearly a quarter of the world's commercial aircraft orders, edging out St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas for the No. 2 spot behind Seattle-based Boeing.

Airbus's A320, a 150-seat medium-range plane that made its maiden flight three months ago, has won more orders - 277 - than any new plane in history. Wide-Body Battle Coming

Now the 17-year-old Airbus is about to attack the market for long-range wide-body aircraft, unleashing a battle that some analysts think could drive one of the three giant manufacturers out of the commercial aviation business.

If the West German Government soon approves more than $1 billion to help Airbus develop its twin-engine A330 and four-engine A340 wide-body jets as expected, Jean Pierson, Airbus's president, probably will formally launch the program to build them at the Paris Air Show in mid-June.

But the ensuing battle is shaping up as much more than a fight between Airbus on one hand and McDonnell Douglas and Boeing on the other. It is also threatening to set off trade hostilities between the United States and Airbus's four Government backers -France, West Germany, Britain and Spain.

Washington is sympathetic to complaints by Boeing and McDonnell Douglas that Airbus has purchased its past successes with huge and illegal Government subsidies. Now, both the American companies and Washington fear that the same thing is about to happen with the A330 and A340, whose development will cost more than $2.5 billion.

''It seems to me that 17 years of incubation is enough time to give birth to a commercial company,'' said Richard Albrecht, an executive vice president at Boeing. ''It's time that they stand or fall on their own.'' U.S. Retaliation Threatened

Indeed, Washington has threatened retaliation against Airbus and its sponsoring Governments - threats that some fear could weaken the Atlantic alliance if carried out.

The Europeans view the American complaints as sour grapes. In their view, the Americans, after having long controlled more than 80 percent of the world's commercial aviation market, are merely trying to preserve their near monopoly.

But as the Europeans fully understand, there are also larger issues involved. Besides being a business in which the United States still boasts of technological superiority, the commercial aircraft industry produces the biggest trade surplus of any industry. Last year, when the United States was racking up a huge trade deficit, commercial aircraft generated a $12 billion surplus. Airbus's Defense

For their part, Airbus officials cling to their view that there is nothing wrong with the Government financial aid they are receiving - and that they assert they will eventually repay.

''You can't expect the European way of doing business to mirror the American way,'' Stuart Iddles, Airbus's 43-year-old senior vice president for commercial affairs, said in an interview today at Airbus's sprawling five-story headquarters here.

Because it often takes 20 years or more for a single plane to pay back the multibillion-dollar investment required to develop it, Mr. Iddles said, such assistance was the only way Airbus could develop the family of aircraft needed to compete against giant Boeing. ''We're trying to put together a family of airplanes in a very short time, while it took Boeing 25 years to do that,'' he said. Raising the Stakes

The stakes in the confrontation between America and Airbus are great: national pride, technological leadership, tens of thousands of jobs and huge investments.

In recent weeks those stakes have been raised as the planned A330 and A340 cleared some important hurdles. Earlier this month, the British Government approved $750 million in aid for the planes, and the French Government put in $1 billion.

These Government funds are being funneled into Airbus through the members of the consortium: Aerospatiale of France, which owns 37.9 percent; Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm G.m.b.H. of Germany, which through its Deutsche Airbus subsidiary owns 37.9 percent; British Aerospace, which owns 20 percent, and Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A. of Spain, with 4.2 percent. Outlook Was Grim

A few months ago, it was unclear whether Airbus would get the more than $2.5 billion in Government aid it needs to move ahead with the twin-engine A330 and four-engine A340. McDonnell Douglas had just announced that it would go ahead with its MD-11, a long-range, three-engine wide-body jet that would compete with the A340 and certainly cut into its market and profitability.

What is more, Airbus announced that it was dropping a new generation of fuel-efficient superfan engines that it had boasted would power its A340, because the engines would not be ready in time for the planned 1992 introduction.

Just when questions about whether Government aid would be forthcoming were at their height, Washington dispatched a high-level trade delegation to encourage the Europeans to drop plans for the A330 and A340. The delegation criticized Airbus's Government support. It asked Airbus to open its books so it could see whether the Government money Airbus has received was loans to be repaid -and therefore permissible under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - or outright grants, which are not permitted. A Mission That Backfired

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''We flew over on a fact-finding and expression-of-concern mission, and we were stunned by the intensity of the reaction,'' said Bruce Smart, the Under Secretary of Commerce, who headed the American delegation last February.

European newspapers and politicians lampooned the Americans as bullies who wanted to drive Airbus -perhaps the most successful example of European cooperation - out of business.

''The American delegation probably did Airbus a favor with all their loud talk by galvanizing European opinion to back Airbus,'' said Morten Beyer, president of Avmark Inc., an airplane consulting firm.

Not long after, the Government aid to develop the A330 and A340 started rolling in. Airbus's efforts to win aid were helped by announcements of orders: Air France, Lufthansa, Northwest Airlines and six other companies have committed themselves to buy 128 A330's and A340's. Airbus Practices Assailed

American business and Government officials say that Airbus has used cutthroat pricing and promises of landing rights to try to attract customers - charges the Europeans deny.

''They're charging $10 million to $15 million less per plane than we are even though the development costs for the 330 and 340 will be something like $4 billion,'' said James E. Worsham, president of McDonnell Douglas's aircraft division. ''Our development costs for the MD-11 will be about $500 million.''

The MD-11 will be a derivative based on the DC-10, while the two Airbus offerings will be entirely new planes that share a fuselage and wing.

McDonnell Douglas and Boeing officials insist that there is no way that Airbus can make money on its new planes. This is especially true, they say, because the falling dollar has made it harder for Airbus to match the Americans on pricing. Airbus Prospects Debated

''The pricing competition in the wide bodies is going to get even more brutal,'' said Wolfgang H. Demisch, an analyst with the First Boston Corporation. ''And I think the currency impact will make it impossible for Airbus to even conceive of making a profit, at least through the end of the century.''

But Airbus's Mr. Iddles is confident that the A330 and A340 will make money and Airbus itself will move into the black in the mid-1990's.

Airbus officials estimate that almost 2,000 long-range, three- or four-engine wide-body jets - which include 747's, MD-11's and A340's - will have been sold by the year 2005. Airbus expects to receive 25 percent of those orders. That, the company says, will enable the A340 to earn a profit.

But some analysts predict that the market for wide-body jets will be just half of what Airbus expects. That does not faze Airbus.

''People also had lots of doubts about the A320, saying it would never work out,'' said Geoffrey Pattie, the British minister in charge of aerospace. ''But it's been extremely successful. The fact that some people say there are doubts doesn't mean we have doubts.'' The Threat to McDonnell

Mr. Demisch thinks that if anyone is squeezed out of the commercial aviation business during the coming battle it will be McDonnell Douglas. He and other analysts say this fear has pushed McDonnell Douglas to try to team up with Airbus in developing wide-body jets. Such an alliance would theoretically make it easier for both companies to compete against No. 1 Boeing.

McDonnell Douglas had wanted Airbus to help it develop the MD-11 in return for McDonnell Douglas's aid with the A330. But with Airbus now saying that the A330 and A340 must be developed together, any joint venture on wide-body jets seems unlikely. Frustration With Americans

Privately, officials of Airbus's constituent companies express frustration with the repeated American complaints. They note that the Europeans are important customers of the Americans: Lufthansa and Air France have recently placed huge orders for Boeing 747's, while Britain passed up its own manufacturers to buy American-made Awacs reconnaissance planes.

Moreover, the Europeans say that Boeing and McDonnell Douglas have little right to complain about subsidies. The American commercial aviation companies, the Europeans contend, receive huge subsidies in the form of generous military contracts that help cover overhead and provide expertise for research and development.

It would be ironic if Airbus were to drive one of the American giants out of the business: European aerospace companies banded together to form Airbus because they thought none of them individually was large enough to compete with the American companies, especially Boeing.

Airbus's first two entries, the A300 and A310, were twin-engine, twin-aisle, medium-range planes that have been only a moderate success. But considering the complex manufacturing logistics involved, it is something of a wonder that Airbus became a force in the industry at all. The front of its jets' fuselages are made in France, the rear in Germany, the wings in Britain and the horizontal stabilizers in Spain - and all are flown to Toulouse for assembly.

A version of this article appears in print on May 28, 1987, on Page D00001 of the National edition with the headline: AIRBUS'S THREAT TO U.S. RIVALS. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe